Re: Winnie Mading's post, on "Which brand?"
   I thought Winnie handled the issues very well in her work environment, with attendtion to ethics. It is good to read how others handle this particular question.  Could I add just one small suggestion, that price might be another point to mention - suggestion to the mother that in making her selection, a higher price doesn't mean a better product.
   Winnie was writing about clients in the health services who were definitely going to quit breastfeeding.  In a different situation, breastfeeding Mums I see in private practice with colicky or high-needs babies sometimes tell me they are almost ready to quit, wondering if switching to bottles of artificial baby milk (ABM) will fix the problem.  My response is that it might seem to work - for a few days - but chances are the baby will still be cranky, and what is she going to do then?  Would they turn to the soothing and comforting techniques we'd just discussed for their breastfed babies, or would they switch to a second - or third - ABM?  I tell them about a mother who rang me from interstate, some time ago specifically wanting advice on which brand of ABM to use.  She was on her sixth (6th) brand, and had kept switching to another brand every time her baby became unsettled again.  I was not prepared to recommend a specific brand, the important thing for this mother being to stop switching - to make a conscious choice and stick with it.  (She attended a wel-baby clinic, and her baby was healthy, but she wanted an outside opinion on this particular issue.)  So I got her to talk about which two brands she preferred.  Her impression was that on brand A her baby was contented but "not gaining", while on brand B her baby was gaining heaps but very unsettled.  So we talked through what was more important to her - a more settled baby or a rapid gain. (We also talked about ways to enjoy her hig-needs baby more, soothing, and so on.)  I wonder how many Mums out there in the community also switch between brands, in the belief that, if they can find the "best" brand, their high-needs baby will become a real cutie.  The education needed here, of courfse, is that there is no "best" brand, and that they're all, at best, substitutes, not teh miracle solutions thier friends and families suggest.
       Cheers,
             Virginia in Brisbane
      .

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